Radio Base Station and User Equipment and Methods Therein

1. A method in a terminal for transmitting uplink control information in a slot of a subframe over a channel to a base station in a wireless communication system, wherein the uplink control information is comprised in a code word, and wherein the method comprises: mapping the code word to modulation symbols; block spreading the modulation symbols across Discrete Fourier Transform Spread-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (DFTS-OFDM) symbols by repeating the modulation symbols for each DFTS-OFDM symbol and applying a block spreading sequence of weight factors to the repeated modulation symbols, to achieve a respective weighted copy of the modulation symbols for each DFTS-OFDM symbol; cyclically shifting each said weighted copy in dependence on at least one of a DFTS-OFDM symbol index and a slot index; Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) transforming each weighted copy, as cyclically shifted; and transmitting, on each DFTS-OFDM symbol, the respective weighted copy of the modulation symbols, as transformed, to the base station.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the channel is a Physical Uplink Control Channel.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the code word is a number of bits.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the modulation symbols are Quadrature Phase-Shift Keying symbols or Binary Phase-Shift Keying symbols.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the block spreading sequence is an orthogonal sequence.

6. A terminal for transmitting uplink control information in a slot of a subframe over a channel to a base station in a wireless communication system, wherein the uplink control information is comprised in a code word, and wherein the terminal comprises: a mapping circuit configured to map the code word to modulation symbols; a block spreading circuit configured to block spread the modulation symbols across Discrete Fourier Transform Spread-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (DFTS-OFDM) symbols by repeating the modulation symbols for each DFTS-OFDM symbol and applying a block spreading sequence of weight factors to the repeated modulation symbols, to achieve a respective weighted copy of the modulation symbols for each DFTS-OFDM symbol; a cyclic shift circuit configured to cyclically shift each said weighted copy in dependence on at least one of a DFTS-OFDM symbol index and a slot index; a transforming circuit configured to Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) transform each weighted copy, as cyclically shifted; and a transmitter configured to transmit, on each DFTS-OFDM symbol, the respective weighted copy of the modulation symbols, as transformed, to the base station.

7. The terminal according to claim 6 , wherein the channel is a Physical Uplink Control Channel.

8. The terminal according to claim 6 , wherein the code word is a number of bits.

9. The terminal according to claim 6 , wherein the modulation symbols are Quadrature Phase-Shift Keying symbols or Binary Phase-Shift Keying symbols.

10. The terminal according to claim 6 , wherein the block spreading sequence is an orthogonal sequence.

11. A method in a radio base station for receiving uplink control information in time slots of a subframe over a radio channel from a user equipment, wherein the uplink control information is comprised in a block of bits and wherein the method comprises: receiving a transmission comprising a sequence of complex-valued modulation symbols from the user equipment, the sequence of complex-valued modulation symbols being block-spread such that at least two different sets of complex-valued modulation symbols are allocated respectively to different Discrete Fourier Transform Spread-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (DFTS-OFDM) symbols, each of said at least two different sets of complex-valued modulation symbols further being cyclically shifted in dependence on at least one of a DFTS-OFDM symbol index and a slot index and Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) transformed prior to the transmission by the user equipment; Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) demodulating the block-spread, cyclically shifted and DFT transformed sequence of complex-valued modulation symbols; performing, per (DFTS-OFDM) symbol, to an output of the OFDM demodulation, an operation that comprises an inverse to the cyclic shift and DFT transform performed prior to the transmission by the user equipment, said operation providing an output corresponding to said at least two different sets of complex-valued modulation symbols; block despreading the output corresponding to said at least two different sets of complex-valued modulation symbols to form said sequence of complex-valued modulation symbols; and mapping the sequence of complex-valued modulation symbols to a block of bits.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein performing the inverse to the cyclic shift and DFT transform comprises transforming, per DFTS-OFDM symbol, the output of the OFDM demodulation and shifting back an output of the transform operation to form the output corresponding to the at least two different sets of complex-valued modulation symbols.

13. The method according to claim 11 , wherein, in said transmission, a first one of said at least two different sets of complex-valued modulation symbols is comprised in a first time slot and a second one of said at least two different sets of complex-valued modulation symbols is comprised in a second time slot.

14. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the block of bits corresponds to uplink control information and comprises jointly encoded acknowledgements and non-acknowledgements.

15. A radio base station for receiving uplink control information in time slots of a subframe over a radio channel from a user equipment, wherein the uplink control information is comprised in a block of bits, and wherein the radio base station comprises: a receiver configured to receive a transmission comprising a sequence of complex-valued modulation symbols from the user equipment, the sequence of complex-valued modulation symbols being block-spread such that at least two different sets of complex-valued modulation symbols are allocated respectively to different Discrete Fourier Transform Spread-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (DFTS-OFDM) symbols, each of said at least two different sets of complex-valued modulation symbols further being cyclically shifted in dependence on at least one of a DFTS-OFDM symbol index and a slot index and Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) transformed prior to the transmission by the user equipment; an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) demodulating circuit configured to OFDM demodulate the block-spread, cyclically shifted and DFT transformed sequence of complex-valued modulation symbols; a transforming circuit configured to perform, per (DFTS-OFDM) symbol, to an output of the OFDM demodulation, an operation that comprises an inverse to the cyclic shift and DFT transform performed prior to the transmission by the user equipment, said operation providing an output corresponding to said at least two different sets of complex-valued modulation symbols; a block despreading circuit configured to block despread the output corresponding to said at least two different sets of complex-valued modulation symbols to form said sequence of complex-valued modulation symbols; and a mapping circuit configured to map the sequence of complex-valued modulation symbols to a block of bits.

16. The radio base station according to claim 15 , wherein the transforming circuit being configured to perform the inverse to the cyclic shift and DFT transform comprises the transforming circuit being configured to transform, per DFTS-OFDM symbol, the output of the OFDM demodulation and to shift back an output of the transform operation to form the output corresponding to the at least two different sets of complex-valued modulation symbols.

17. The radio base station according to claim 15 , wherein, in said transmission, a first one of said at least two different sets of complex-valued modulation symbols is comprised in a first time slot and a second one of said at least two different sets of complex-valued modulation symbols is comprised in a second time slot.

18. The radio base station according to claim 15 , wherein the block of bits corresponds to uplink control information and comprises jointly encoded acknowledgements and non-acknowledgements.